MZED Joins Together With Vincent LaForet For a 32-City Camera Direction and Movement Tour

(April 23, 2014) DGA Director Vincent Laforet is getting ready to launch his cross-country "Directing Motion Tour" that will span 32 cities in just over 9 weeks, where he will teach thousands of filmmakers how, when and why to move the camera. If you’ve ever wanted to elevate the level of your directing and DPing skills with an in-depth understanding of how important camera movement is to just about any piece of motion, this is a workshop you just might want to consider.

Orson Welles and Steven Spielberg were two directors that had a notable influence on infusing movement into almost every scene, and by doing so, they were able to better engage audiences on an intellectual and emotional level and effectively change the game of film; This is why Vincent will be carefully dissecting their work, as well as work from nearly 100 of the best directors and DPs of all time.

We won’t be discussing picture styles or 4K vs 2K here- this workshop is the next to build upon what many of you learned in Alex Buono’s workshop "The Art of Visual Storytelling" tour (and in fact is being run by the same group- MZed aka Monte Zucker Education).

Directing Motion, for Vincent Laforet, is, “A bit of a guilty pleasure. Motion is something I’m obsessed with – but only when it ‘serves the story’. That’s CRITICAL. I generally am not a fan of ‘unmotivated movement’ - or in laymen’s terms: Michael Bay movies where the camera is flying around for no reason other than to create eye candy. But I digress...”

“For a few decades now, I’ve promised myself that one day I would be lucky enough to have a big home theater, and that I would sit back and watch all of my favorite films and to break them down scene by scene… Problem is: I never found the time, and when I did watch them, I would more often than not fall right under their spell: and out went any chance of analysis.”

About three months ago, Vincent broke his arm and suddenly had far too much time on his hands with little to do but stay as still as possible and heal… what to do? That’s how the Directing Motion Tour was born. He ordered nearly 100 BluRays of his favorite films and a few key TV series, and watched them while taking copious notes. Vincent has already spent close to 300 hours analyzing his favorite films and scenes, and has more than 400 examples to share that he will surely have to decimate down to the very best one.

“I have to tell you, watching these carefully curated clips is worth it alone for just about anyone who loves film. I can also tell you from experience that once you attend this workshop, you will go from being a passive viewer to an active viewer of film/motion content, and that you’ll never be able to see things the same way again.”, says Vincent.

The Directing Motion workshop is broken down into 3 teaching sections, and 3 live shoots followed by an evening seminar session.

It’s very important that while he will be basing the workshop on some of the best films of all time, the principles Vincent will show and teach are ones to be applied to ANY shoot.

The Directing Motion Tour will teach all levels of filmmakers the precise cinematic language of motion, and how to not only move the camera itself, but also the content in front of the camera.

Attendees will step away from this experience with a solid foundation in camera movement, blocking, lensing, and sequencing, and will be able to direct any crew precisely and effectively to execute their vision. By understanding these principles thoroughly, filmmakers can add impact to all their projects, from commercials to webisodes, features to shorts, or events to documentaries.

The training will consist of six main themes:

Defining cinema language

Core building blocks for running your set

How, when, and why to move your camera

Universal rules of coverage

Constructing a scene with intent to engage

Applied camera direction theory

About Vincent LaForet:
Vincent, a three-time winner at the prestigious 2010 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, is a director and Pulitzer Prize - winning photographer who is known for his forward-thinking approach to image-making and storytelling. In addition to having been commissioned by just about every important international publication - including Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, and Life -Vincent is considered a pioneer both for his innovative tilt-shift and aerial photography and in the field of HD-capable DSLR cameras. In fact, his short film Reverie, the first 1080p video shot with a still camera, was seen by more than 2 million times on the first week of its release in 2009. Vincent is a member of the Director’s Guild of America and a DP with Local 600.